The Exonerated

• Playing at: Shubert Theatre
• Dates: February 4, 2003 - February 16, 2003

This new drama ripped directly from today’s headlines is written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, directed by Bob Balaban, starring stage and film star Brian Dennehy and TV star Marlo Thomas. During the summer of 2000, married authors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen traveled across the United States interviewing 40 former death row prisoners. They went as far south as Texas and Florida, as far north as Illinois and just about everywhere in between to meet the people whose stories appear in THE EXONERATED. The interviewees were from vastly different ethnic, religious and educational backgrounds. Their views on the world varied greatly. The only thing they had in common was that all 40 had been sentenced to death, spent anywhere from 2 to 22 years on death row, were subsequently found innocent and eventually freed by the state. Their verbatim interviews and individual court documents form the core of THE EXONERATED. In his review of the New York production, Ben Brantley of The New York Times called THE EXONERATED “a deeply affecting play. Directed with elegant spareness by Bob Balaban, it is thoroughly involving theater.” Mike Kuchwara of The Associated Press said, “Riveting! Simple, honest storytelling that demands reflection by the audience.”